Had Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined me and my APN colleagues on our West Bank study tour last
week, we would have shown him how fraught with illegality and illegitimacy West Bank settlements
are.

Previous US administrations opposed settlement construction as an obstacle to peace, and tried to
limit it to varying degrees. But planning and building have accelerated under the Trump
administration, according to the Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now.

"He can declare that night is day, but it will not change the fact that Israeli settlements are not
only illegal under international law, but are also a huge obstacle to peace and to the stability of
our region," said Hagit Ofran of the Israeli anti-settlements group Peace Now.